Howard Willhoit: Gone too soon . . . Remembering the musical and Christian legacy of a beloved brother


Among JoAnn Willhoit Livingston’s family heirlooms is this friendship quilt made by the families of students who attended Barefoot School. Using state class roster and teacher contract records, JoAnn’s friend Sally Lyons McAlear has determined that the quilt blocks are embroidered with the names of students who attended the school in 1922. The name of teacher Elsie Rhodes Taber, who signed an eight-month contract to teach at Barefoot on July 31, 1922, is on the quilt. One of the names on the quilt is Sally’s cousin Weldon Burnett, who would have been 6 at the time. The 20 names on the quilt, left to right, top to bottom, are Gladys Jones, Jessie Derrick, Flossie Derrick, Earnest Blankenship, Dallas Robirds, Weldon Burnett, Murriel Jones, Opal Robirds, Paul Jones, Elsie Taber (teacher), Barefoot School, Tilford Jones, Opal Willhoit, Beulah Willhoit, Willard Willhoit, Murrill Robirds, Conley Willhoit, Glessie Derrick, Willow Blankenship and Leah Derrick. The four Willhoit students named were JoAnn’s older siblings

Howard Willhoit went to work on the family’s farm after attending eight years at Barefoot but later returned to school to attend Gainesville High School with his two younger sisters, Mildred and Helen. He graduated with Mildred in 1942, when he was 23. They’re included in this photo of the class of 1942, which is reprinted from the May 8, 1992, edition of the TImes, after the class gathered for its 50-year reunion. Class members pictured are, front row, from left: Peggy Boone (mascot). Second row: Lois Deavers, Juanita McClendon, Sylvia Naugle, Margaurette Sanders, Doin Upton, Alva Herd, Earlin Haskins and Mable Amyx, class sponsor. Third row: Rayford Thomas, Ruth Hicks, Lenore Jump, Alice Cutbirth, Betty McGinnis, Eva Smith, Barbara Nixon, Howard Willhoit and Wayne Clark. Row 4: Glenda Shindler, Gordon Peacock, Calvin Hawkins, Geraldine Jones, Mildred Willhoit and Wilma Jones. Row 5: Oreal Sanders, Leonard Deavers, Ewing White, Earl Watson, Arlis Nichols and Lee Wallace. Graduates not pictured were Audie Price, Huston Luna, Eunice Langston, Ralph Hogan, Basil Gaulind and Verne Garrison. Faculty members pictured in the inset photo are, front row, from left: Lyda Nurse, Stella Luna and Mabel Amyx. Back: Chunk Woods, Mearle Luna, Edgar Highnote, Mr. Lyles and superintendent Leonard Atchley. Not pictured: Huston Hambelton. Howard Willhoit died eight years after graduating, in 1950, of adrenal gland failure possibly due to tuberculosis.

Howard Willhoit wrote several poems and songs, including this one, “Gainesville High School Blues” about his time at Gainesville High School in the 1940s.

JoAnn Willhoit Livingston has carefully recorded the history of Springfield’s First General Baptist Church, which was started by her brother, the late Howard Willhoit, in 1946. Many of the church’s charter members had ties to Ozark County. The church, at 1400 W. Walnut in Springfield, continues its work and worship services.

Like the rest of us, Ozark County native JoAnn Willhoit Livingston, now 88 and living in Springfield, isn’t getting any younger. In fact, she already died once, three years ago, when emergency responders “used the paddles” on her after a heart attack and shocked her back to life, she said. Now, before it’s too late, she wants to share a little of her family’s story, especially the part that describes the remarkable accomplishments of her brother, the late Howard Willhoit.

The story starts in the family’s log house between Lutie and Longrun, on what is now County Road 904, where JoAnn lived with her parents, George Washington Willhoit and Clara Bruer Willhoit, and her seven siblings: Beulah Rae, Opal Marie, Willard Ralph, Conley Berry, Howard Thomas, Mildred Fern and Helen Irene. JoAnn, the youngest, is the last one living. 

The log house where the older children were born burned in 1923 or 1924. Howard, then 5, and his brothers Conley and Willard “barely escaped,” JoAnn said. The only thing saved from the house “was a quilt that Aunt Dora Cutbirth Bruer wrapped around baby Mildred, who was a few months old.”

While their house was being built on the same site, the family lived in Joe Willhoit’s nearby house. Joe, George Willhoit’s brother, had taken his family to Oklahoma to find work, JoAnn said.

The Willhoit children walked to Barefoot School, about a mile and a half away. During the year when the district couldn’t afford a teacher for the full eight-month term, George and Clara Willhoit moved their family to Greene County so the kids could attend Kinser School. 

“The folks had a car, but they moved in a wagon and drove the livestock,” JoAnn said. “The boys rode horses.”

The family moved back home the next year when Barefoot School resumed full-term classes. Instead of continuing on to high school, Howard worked with his parents on the family’s farm.

“They all worked very hard,” JoAnn said. “There was just so much to be done to make a living, to have food on the table.”

 

‘We would sing every song in the songbook’

George Willhoit was a General Baptist preacher who traveled to different churches in the area to preach on Sundays. He first rode to the churches on horseback and later went in a horsedrawn wagon with the family sometimes accompanying him. 

While he was away, “Mama had to take care of things at home,” JoAnn said. “We milked a lot of cows and had milk and cream for us but also sold it, with milk haulers picking it up. We had pigs, sheep, goats, geese, horses and chickens.”

One memorable scene was the preparation for a chicken dinner. “Mama would catch a chicken and wring its head off,” JoAnn said. “When it died, it was dipped in hot water. Then the feathers were picked off, the chicken was cut and washed and then fried on the wood cook stove for dinner. We had no electricity, which meant no air conditioning, fan or lights; we had kerosene lamps. . . . We had big gardens and canned lots of fruit and vegetables for winter eating.”

The Willhoits were a singing family. “Papa would buy Stamps-Baxter songbooks every time a new one came out, and he would buy a book for each of us,” JoAnn said. “We were poor people, so I don’t know how he could afford to do that, but he did. We would sing the Do-Re-Mi to get the tune, and then we would sing the verses. We would sing every song in the book, and then we would choose the ones we wanted to work on and learn. Then, when Papa would go to preach somewhere he had his choir. We sang at a lot of churches – and a lot of funerals.” 

As her older siblings left home, “at the last it was just me,” JoAnn said. “I would sing by myself or with my parents. They say I could carry a tune before I talked.”

JoAnn’s father, George Willhoit, and his brothers were talented musicians. “Dad used to play the fiddle. In fact, all of his brothers played and sang. They won contests in Springfield,” she said. The younger generation carried on the musical tradition, performing for live and radio audiences and winning contests in Springfield. 

George’s brother, John Willhoit, was the longtime postmaster at Willhoit. John Willhoit’s son became a well-known orchestra conductor in Connecticut who traveled the world making music. For many years, Palmer, the son of the third Willhoit brother, Tom Willhoit, operated Willhoit’s Café and bait shop in Theodosia with his wife, Murrill, who was famous for the pies served at the café. “She always said she put six egg whites into the meringue,” JoAnn said.

 

Student, bus driver, preacher, song writer 

JoAnn’s brother Howard had left school after finishing eighth grade at Barefoot, but when he felt a call to preach, he “wanted to have more than an eighth grade education,” JoAnn said. “So when I was in grade school, he went to Barefoot with me to refresh himself with the eighth grade again. She remembers following him to school one day during a big snow. Howard, who was 14 years older than JoAnn, wanted to cut across the fields. “I tried to step in his tracks, but with his long legs and me being so young, it was hard for me,” she said.

After the Barefoot School “refresher,” Howard attended Gainesville High School with his younger sisters, Mildred and Helen. “Howard drove our Model A car to Lutie, and they all got on the bus there to ride to Gainesville,” she said. “Others riding were Mildred, Helen and Gordon Peacock, Gilbert Harp and Hazel Jones. Bus drivers were Raymond Ledbetter, Billy Jones and Howard,” she said. “This would have been around 1938.”

And then sometimes Howard drove the bus himself. JoAnn recalled her friend, the late Mosolene Shaw, one of the bus riders, telling her, “When the kids would start getting rowdy, Howard would say, ‘OK, let’s sing.’ And they all had an enjoyable time.”

“Howard was able to finish in three years in spite of driving the bus some, doing the chores when he got home, and having started to preach when he was 18 years old,” JoAnn said.

She remembers that Howard and Mildred, with friend Geraldine Jones, sang “Red Sails in the Sunset” for the GHS junior-senior banquet. Howard also wrote a song about his high school years, “Gainesville High School Blues,” which names all the teachers he had at the time – and mentions the bus route, which was 38 miles, one way. JoAnn recently sang it repeatedly to a musical friend who transcribed the tune into music and added the words.

Howard and Mildred graduated in 1942, and Howard got a teaching job at Mount Tabor, close to Ava in Douglas County. Before that job was to start, he enrolled in what is now Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar for a summer term – along with sisters Mildred and Helen and friend Gordon Peacock. “But Howard only got to attend a few weeks when he got sick,” JoAnn said.

Howard was eventually diagnosed with “tuberculosis of the lungs, but it was more in his shoulder. He went through a lot of suffering and was very sick,” JoAnn said.

In the fall of 1942, Howard was admitted to the Missouri State Sanatorium in Mount Vernon.

“The whole family had to be tested for TB, but everyone else was OK,” JoAnn said. “It was quite a trip, almost 125 miles one way. World War II was going on then, and gasoline was rationed. We had stamps allotted to us, tires also, as many things were. It was hard to make the trip with such bad tires.”

 

Another tragedy

Then another tragedy struck. George Willhoit died of heart problems. “Papa always said the 13th was his favorite day as he was born and married on the 13th, and he almost made it the 13th when he died,” JoAnn said. Death took the family patriarch at 11:55 p.m. Dec. 12, 1942.

In 1943, Howard was treated at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. His girlfriend, Mae Sallee, went with him and stayed with a friend, Viola Unger. Because Howard’s hospital stays there were so long – JoAnn remembers one lasted 18 months – Mae got a job there. 

Howard and Mae were married Dec. 24, 1943, at the Ava General Church parsonage by the Rev. Charley Phillips. 

JoAnn was in fifth grade at Barefoot School when their father died. Her mother sold the farm in Ozark County, and the two of them moved first to Springfield and then to a 10-room house in Brookline. Howard and Mae lived with them for a while, with Mae teaching school and Howard selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners and Bible storybooks door-to-door. He also preached revivals and fill-ins wherever he was invited to do so.

The week Howard and Mae’s son, George, was born was a happy and heartbreaking time for the family. George was born Nov. 28, 1944, and the next day, Nov. 29, Willard Willhoit, the family’s oldest son, was killed near Kirrwiller, France, while serving with the Army infantry in World War II. Willard’s is one of 10,489 graves in the American Military Cemetery in Lorraine, France.

When Howard had to be hospitalized in St. Louis again in 1945, JoAnn, then 13, rode the train to St. Louis by herself to babysit George while Mae worked. “Mama fixed a lunch for me to eat on the way,” she said. Nervous about arriving in the huge St. Louis train station, “what a relief to see Mae’s face in the crowd” when she arrived, JoAnn said.

 

A calling from God

While he was hospitalized in St. Louis, and despite his poor health, Howard told his family that he felt God calling him to start a General Baptist Church in Springfield where, at the time, there wasn’t one. Friends and relatives from Ozark County who had moved to Springfield to find a job or college were accustomed to attending a General Baptist congregation back home. When they didn’t find one in Springfield “many of them just quit going,” JoAnn said.

Howard visited them – and others – “trying to get them to commit to help him start a church. It wasn’t easy,” JoAnn said.

But on April 2, 1946, Howard started a General Baptist congregation in the Macedonia Baptist Church on Highway 60 west of Springfield. “They had a bus, so they picked Mama and me up at our home in Brookline,” JoAnn remembered. They continued to attend until her mother fell ill with a ruptured appendix and eventually died. “She was only 58 and in good health before that,” JoAnn said.

JoAnn had been ready to start high school in Republic when her mother died; instead, she moved in with her sister Mildred and husband Earl Watson and attended Ava High School. 

Meanwhile, Howard continued to pastor the General Baptist congregation in Springfield. On July 27, 1947, it was officially organized as Springfield General Baptist Church. Many, if not most, of the charter members had ties to Ozark County. 

In addition to pastoring the fledgling congregation, Howard and Mae ran a store owned by Ozark County native L. Don Wallace on State Street in Springfield. On Nov. 21, 1948, the congregation moved to 2500 W. State St., and the next year, Springfield General Baptist purchased two lots at 1400 W. Walnut St. The congregation built a basement – all it had money for at the time – and Howard preached at the first service held there on Nov. 6, 1949, his 31st birthday. During that same year, State Rep. Dowell Sweirs helped Howard serve as the chaplain for the Missouri House of Representatives, where his picture still hangs on the wall. 

In February 13, 1949, Mae and Howard had a baby girl, born prematurely. “She was so beautiful and looked perfect,” JoAnn said, but she died when she was six weeks old – a tragedy blamed on an underdeveloped respiratory system. 

Howard’s health continued to decline, but he, Mae and George continued their work for the church – and they managed to travel some, as well, including a trip to California to see relatives there. 

The church continued to grow, even though Howard wasn’t always able to attend because he was sick. He was always thrilled to have the “Goodwill Family” perform at the church. That was the well-known KWTO radio group that included Slim Wilson, “Aunt Martha,” Junior Haworth and George Rhodes.

Five months after he had presided over the first service held on the church’s permanent site, Howard died on April 12, 1950 – one day short of his father’s “favorite day.” He was 31. 

His funeral was at Salem Church on Highway 160 in Ocie; the Rev. Allen Ledbetter presided. The Goodwill Family sang during the service. Howard was buried at Lutie Cemetery.

The Springfield church he started, now First General Baptist Church, continues at 1400 W. Walnut St. JoAnn has carefully compiled the congregation’s history into a large binder, recording the names of all the subsequent preachers who have pastored there and noting the expansion of the basement and the start of construction of the auditorium in 1953, the name change to First General Baptist in March 1954, and the first Palm Sunday services held in the new auditorium, and the laying of the cornerstone, in 1955.

Since then a two-story educational unit has been added, the sanctuary has been enlarged and other improvements have been completed. The congregation celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997.   

JoAnn has recorded her brother Howard’s story, along with her family’s history, and her family has typed it out on computers. A copy of the printed edition will be donated to the genealogy library at the Ozark County Historium. 

Ozark County Times

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